Right Spec: 2025 Ram 1500

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

Tim has a first drive of the revamped 2025 Ram 1500 coming soon, so with that in mind we thought it an opportune time to grab some Google SEO traffic build on the theme and include it in our alarmingly irregular Right Spec series.

A notion of pickups like this are their ability to show up for duty in a myriad of looks ranging from base work trucks to chrome-laden luxocruisers or color-keyed trims with an off-road bent. Longtime readers (thanks, both of you) will know I gravitate towards the latter – but doing so this time around would rob us of the Ram’s sumptuous southwest-grade Longhorn interior which looks like a Utah or Arizona landscape writ large.


It's worth noting Ram has decided, for now, that its upper trims will only be available with four-wheel drive. This makes sense for the Rebel, given its station in the trim walk, but the specter of a Limited or Limited Longhorn with just two driven wheels is off the table – again, for now. We’ll see if enough customers outside the snowbelt register their displeasure with Ram dealers. 

Rebel trims are only available with a 5.5-foot box while the likes of a Limited Longhorn can append an extra 12 inches to its rump and actually carry a Polaris Sportsman ATV in its cargo area without leaving its tailgate down. Options added to this Rebel include the G/T package which affords its interior a gear selector ripped from the old Grand Cherokee Trackhawk and mounted on the center console. This calms bleatings from certain demographics that a so-called Real Truck (TM) has no business shifting its gears with a dial.


Under that hood now lives a turbocharged straight-six engine (RIP, Hemi), though the Limited Longhorn is tuned to 540 horsepower/521 lb-ft while the Rebel makes do with a 420 hp/469 lb-ft configuration. Don’t expect it to remain that way for long, as customers in the Rebel demographic tend to like MOAR POWER, so this writer expects the high-output variant to appear as an option within the next 24 months. A new Rebel G/T will set ya back about $72,000 while a Limited Longhorn with extras is about 10 grand more. 

Knowing you lot are weird and like base trucks, we’d be remiss to mention the entry-level Tradesman is available with a $1,200 Sport Appearance, complete with 20-inch wheels and color-keyed addenda plus fog lamps and a slew of blacked-out accents. It’s actually a very decent look, particularly in an expressive shade like Delmonico Red shown here. It does require selection of the Level 1 Equipment group, padding the bottom line by $1,695 and bringing the likes of a power sliding rear window and satellite radio. MSRP including destination is under 50 large for a Quad Cab 4x4 with a 6.5-foot box. An off-road group with skid plates can be paired with all this for a further $1,895 if you’re so inclined.


Damn this series of posts. Now I’m eyeing trade-in values again.


[Images: Stellantis]


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Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

More by Matthew Guy

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4 of 22 comments
  • RobbyG RobbyG on Feb 22, 2024

    RAM was smart to venture into their own brand. My uncle bought a brand new Hemi Ram in 2018 and I had the chance to drive it. It was my first experience dealing with a rotary knob shifter and although it was awkward at first, it grew on me quickly. Frees up a lot of space in the center console. His huge German shepherd had plenty of room in the back...with 2 other adults back there. Laz-Boy comfort front seats, serene ride, and quieter than my old MKZ. Sure, gas mileage sucked, but who cares? It's a V8 truck. Needless to say I was impressed.


    Myself being from New England and my uncle living in the sweltering heat of Florida I dunno why he opted for black on black leather. And, alas, no 4X4 for me to try out. His knowledge of vehicles is about the same as my knowledge of turbine engines (zero) and also test drove the F-150, Silverado, and Tundra. Only reason he bought the Ram? $10k less than any of the other comparatives, and got a 10 year 100K warranty thrown in.


    I have heard horror stories of some of the transmissions on the newer ones, so I would imagine any Stellantis buy is sort of a gamble.


    No V8 would also be a deal breaker for me if I were in this market. No way a turbocharged V6 is going to last as long as a natural V8. Same feelings for the newer Tundra.

    • See 1 previous
    • Arthur Dailey Arthur Dailey on Feb 23, 2024

      'Frees up space on the centre console'. How isn't the footprint of the dial not much larger than that of a simple shifter? And what if the shifter was placed where it belongs, on the steering column? Wouldn't that free up the maximum amount of space on the console?


  • Dartdude Dartdude on Feb 24, 2024

    I have a 17 Ram 1500, love the dial and took to it right a way. don't have a lever blocking the dash panel or taking up space on the console.

  • Tassos Under incompetent, affirmative action hire Mary Barra, GM has been shooting itself in the foot on a daily basis.Whether the Malibu cancellation has been one of these shootings is NOT obvious at all.GM should be run as a PROFITABLE BUSINESS and NOT as an outfit that satisfies everybody and his mother in law's pet preferences.IF the Malibu was UNPROFITABLE, it SHOULD be canceled.More generally, if its SEGMENT is Unprofitable, and HALF the makers cancel their midsize sedans, not only will it lead to the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ones, but the survivors will obviously be more profitable if the LOSERS were kept being produced and the SMALL PIE of midsize sedans would yield slim pickings for every participant.SO NO, I APPROVE of the demise of the unprofitable Malibu, and hope Nissan does the same to the Altima, Hyundai with the SOnata, Mazda with the Mazda 6, and as many others as it takes to make the REMAINING players, like the Excellent, sporty Accord and the Bulletproof Reliable, cheap to maintain CAMRY, more profitable and affordable.
  • GregLocock Car companies can only really sell cars that people who are new car buyers will pay a profitable price for. As it turns out fewer and fewer new car buyers want sedans. Large sedans can be nice to drive, certainly, but the number of new car buyers (the only ones that matter in this discussion) are prepared to sacrifice steering and handling for more obvious things like passenger and cargo space, or even some attempt at off roading. We know US new car buyers don't really care about handling because they fell for FWD in large cars.
  • Slavuta Why is everybody sweating? Like sedans? - go buy one. Better - 2. Let CRV/RAV rust on the dealer lot. I have 3 sedans on the driveway. My neighbor - 2. Neighbors on each of our other side - 8 SUVs.
  • Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
  • Wjtinfwb Not proud of what Stellantis is rolling out?
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